M. Stanton Evans
The Sharon Statement
Freedom and tradition, in one creed.
Traditional Conservative LibertarianOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Conservative Libertarian hall →- Role
- Writer & activist
- Era
- 1934–2015
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Traditional
- Placement
- +74 · −26 · −46
§ Where M. Stanton Evans stands
3 axesThe Sharon Statement that Evans drafted in 1960 declared the market economy, allocating resources by supply and demand, the only economic system compatible with personal freedom and constitutional government. He spent his career attacking federal spending, regulation and the growth of the welfare state, from The Liberal Establishment (1965) to decades of columns and his teaching of young conservative journalists.
Evans believed in limited, constitutional government on the founders' model: the 1960 Sharon Statement held that government exists to preserve internal order, provide for national defence and administer justice, and that power beyond those functions diminishes liberty. He defended the reserved powers of the states against Washington while backing a strong Cold War defence against communism.
Evans was a religious traditionalist who held that liberty and moral order were one cause. The Sharon Statement grounded freedom in the individual's God-given free will, and in The Theme Is Freedom (1994) he argued that American liberty grew from the Judaeo-Christian tradition rather than from Enlightenment secularism, making him a leading voice for the traditionalist side of fusionism.
How close are you to M. Stanton Evans?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalMedford Stanton Evans (1934–2015) was an American journalist, author and conservative activist. Born in Texas and educated at Yale, he worked for The Freeman and National Review before becoming editor of The Indianapolis News in 1960, at 26 among the youngest editors of a major American daily. That September he drafted the Sharon Statement, adopted at William F. Buckley's family estate in Sharon, Connecticut, as the founding creed of Young Americans for Freedom, the conservative movement's leading youth organisation.
Evans remained a central figure of the conservative movement for half a century. He chaired the American Conservative Union from 1971 to 1977, founded the National Journalism Center in 1977 to train young reporters, and wrote books including The Liberal Establishment (1965) and The Theme Is Freedom (1994). His most controversial work, Blacklisted by History (2007), argued that Senator Joseph McCarthy had been substantially right about communist infiltration of the US government, a thesis most historians reject.
Notable for
- 01Drafted the Sharon Statement (1960)
- 02Helped found Young Americans for Freedom
- 03Conservative editor
Key works & moments
- 1960Becomes editor of The Indianapolis News at the age of 26.
- 1960Drafts the Sharon Statement at the founding of Young Americans for Freedom.
- 1965Publishes The Liberal Establishment, an attack on liberal dominance of American institutions.
- 1971Becomes chairman of the American Conservative Union, serving until 1977.
- 1977Founds the National Journalism Center to train young journalists.
- 2007Publishes Blacklisted by History, a revisionist defence of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
In their own words
“In this time of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.”
§ Minds closest to M. Stanton Evans
All minds →
§ Also in the Conservative Libertarian hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was M. Stanton Evans's political ideology?
M. Stanton Evans was a fusionist conservative who held that free markets, limited government and traditional religious morality form a single cause: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Traditional Conservative Libertarian. Economically he sat firmly on the market side (+74), treating the market economy as the only system compatible with freedom. On governance he leaned libertarian (−26), defending constitutional limits and the powers of the states, and socially he was clearly traditional (−46), grounding liberty in God-given free will and the Christian tradition.
Was M. Stanton Evans left-wing or right-wing?
Right-wing: he was one of the organisers of the post-war American conservative movement. Evans drafted the founding creed of Young Americans for Freedom, chaired the American Conservative Union in the 1970s and trained generations of conservative journalists. He combined free-market economics, constitutional limits on federal power, hawkish anti-communism and religious traditionalism, and he often criticised Republican leaders he believed had compromised those principles.
What is the Sharon Statement?
The Sharon Statement is the founding creed of Young Americans for Freedom, adopted in September 1960 at William F. Buckley's family home in Sharon, Connecticut, and drafted by the 26-year-old M. Stanton Evans. In a few hundred words it fused the main strands of post-war conservatism: God-given free will as the source of liberty, a government limited to order, defence and justice, the market economy as the system compatible with freedom, and victory over international communism. It became a touchstone for the movement that nominated Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Which minds are closest to M. Stanton Evans?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to M. Stanton Evans are Frank Meyer (99% alike), William F. Buckley Jr. (97% alike) and L. Brent Bozell Jr. (97% alike). The furthest is Pol Pot (4% alike).